Computing machihe



Jan. 8, 1929. 1,697,981

. A. G. KUPETZ COMPUTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 1. 1922 /3' 1 a no Patented Jan. 8, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADOLPH G. KUPETZ, .OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEJI YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO ELLIOTT-FISHER COMPANY, OF KEV] YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF D LAWARE.

COMPUTING MACHINE.

Application filed August 1, 1922. Serial No. 578,881.

' typewriting and computing machineof the Underwood-Hanson type.

In a machine of the type referred to, the carriage, in its step-by-step movement through a computing zone, causes a denomination-selector thereon to engage and actuate s-eriatim a set of pivoted jacks which depress downwardlyextending thrust-rods.

The lower ends of the thrust-rods engage and acuate the rear arms of levers of graduated lengths mounted on a common pivot at the bottom of the machine, and the forward ends of the levers actuate rather complicated transposition linkages, the-latter acting through a set of bell-cranks'to advance denominational pin-bars, or computation members. seriatim to bring the pins thereon into alingnment with numeral-key-actuated pin-setting. bars, so that, upon depression of a numeral-key, the corresponding pin on a selected pin-bar will be set for engagement by the general operator for actuating the pin-bars and consequently the register-wheels. The jacks are actuated seriatim from right to left, and the pin-bars are advanced to pin-setting position in the reverse order.

Th main object of the invention is to provide improved transposition mechanism, simple in structure, economical to manufacture, and readily applicable to existing machines.

According to the present invention, there may be used, for connecting the thrust-rods to the pin-bars, a set of levers having rearwardly-extending arms in engagement with and actuable by said thrust-rods and no more than a single set of bell-cranks actuable by" forwardly-extending arms of said levers. These bell-cranks may not only change the im-and-down movements of the forwards ends of the levers to the back-and-forth movements of the pin-bars, but may also constitute a transposition device, since one set of bell-crank-arms has the reverse denominational order from the other set of bellcrank-arms. To effect this reversal, the bellcranks are inthe form-of graduated bails, and the bailsare so formed and nested as to give the desired result. It will be seen that, by the use of such bell-cranks or bails, in-

filie usual set of complicated link bars for the settin Preferably the set-screws are arranged in ages and the bell-cranks through which the linkages act to selectively advance the pinbars, the number of parts has been greatly reduced, and it has been rendered possible to make this part of the denomination-selecting mechanism much more compact.

The set or system of computation bars is usually of substantially greater width than the set of levers actuated by the thrust-rods orCdenominational devices, the latter being arranged at letter-space intervals, and the bail-like bell-cranks are so contrived that one set of arms for actuation by the levers engaged by the thrust-rods is of substantially less width than the other set of arms for connection with the computation bars.

All of the bell-cranks or bails are pivotally mounted on a single rod or shaft and prefera'bly the latter is supported at its ends in two brackets, the forward ends of which are secured on the upper surface of a usual crossbar of the computer. The usual comb-plate for supporting and guiding the rear ends of the denominational rack-bars may be secured to the forward ends of the brackets.

Provision may also be made of a cover or angle-member to be secured to the rear ends of the brackets, one flange overlying the rear ends of the brackets and serving as a sto to limit the rearward movement of the pinardisplacing arms of the bails, and the other or downwardlyextending flange being provided with slots to receive the rear ends of the rearwardly-extending arms of the bails and the forward ends of the levers actuated by the thrust-rods, thereby serving to maintain the proper operative relation between the levers and the rearwardly-extending arms.

connection with the bell-cranks or bails af fords a very convenientand effective means for insuring accurate positioning of the ping of index pins thereon.

two parallel lines, and, when the screws have trated in connection with a bookkeeping 1ua chine of the Underwood-Hanson type.

Figure 2 is a top plan view, partly in section, showing the nested transposition bails.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the angle: member having provisi to limit the movements of the bell-cranks in both directions and to maintain an operative engagement between each of the rearwardly-entending arms of the bails and the forward ends of the leversfor actuating the same.

Figure 4is a perspective view of the nested bails separated from the rest of the mech anism. i

In the usual Underwood-Hanson bookkeeping machine, a typewriter 11, comprising alphabet keys 12 and numeral keys 13, is mounted upon a computer 14. Depression of any one of the numeral keys 13 effects depression of a corresponding key-lever 15 and a pendant 16 pivoted at its upper end to the key-lever. The pendant 16, in its downward movement, engages an arm 17 fixed on the forward end of a shaft 18, there being one shaft 18 for each numeral key for typing a significant digit. Each of the shafts 18 has an arm 19 lined thereon and connected with a bar 20 forming a part of a linkage which also includes a lower bar 21. These bars 21, when depressed, serve to depress index-pins 22 on selected pin-bars or denominational members 23, which are provided at their forward endswith racks 24 having the usual one-way connection with number-wheels 26 mounted on a shaft 27. The number-wheels 26 form part of a register, and the results of computations effected in the register may be read throu a sight-opening 28 in the easing 29 of the computer.

During typing outside of a computing zone, the actuation or said bars 21 is idle as far as setting index-pins 22 is concerned, the pinbars 23 heing held in their rearward iii, iting positions by suitable means, such as springs 30,7wit-h the pins 22 outrof alignment with the bars 21. Upon movement of the typewriter. carriage (not shown) into a computing zone,.a tappet 31 on a denomination-selector 32 will engage seriatim a series of denominational aclrs 33 and swing them about a common pivot 34, to depress adjustable thrust-rods or lin rs 35 seriatiin from right to left, the order of movement of the rods 35 being changed by suitable transposition mechanism to advance the pin-bars 23 seriatim from left to right into position to permit the pins 22 thereon to be set by tne pin-setting bars 21. The denominationselector 32 is rotatably and slidably mounted on a rod 35 supported on the rear of the usual typewriter carriage, and is held in proper letterspace position along said rod by means of a tooth 38 engaging in one of a series of notches in a rod 37, also supported on the rear of the carriage. Normally the'denomination-selector 32 is in depressed position,

but, upon entering a computing Zone, a roller 38 thereon rides up on a Zone-controlling roller 39 and is thereby raised into position to actuate the jacks 33.

The mechanism so far desc ibed is in general similar to that disclosed in the patent to Frederick A. Hart, No. 1,287,301, granted December 10, 1918.

In carrying out thepresent invention, the mechanism by which the thrust-rods 35 transmit the movement of the jacks 33 to the pinbars 23 has been greatly simplified and the number of parts diminished to a great extent. To this end, the usual levers of graduated a5 lengths to be actuated directly by the down wardly-extending thrust-rods, such as 35, are replaced by a seriesof levers 40 mounted on a pivot 41 and having'their forwardly-ens tending arms engaging the rearwardly-exzoo tending arms 42 ofa series of bell-cranks in the form of nest-ed'bails 43 pivotally mounted on a rod 44 and provided with upwardly-extending arms 45, engaging pins 46 projecting laterally from the rear ends of the pin-bars 195 23. Thebails 43 are graduated in size and are so formed and nested that the arrs have the reverse denominational order from the arms 42. It will be seen that the'bails or bell-cranks 43 not only serve to change the 1m swinging movement of the levers 40 to the forward movement of the pin-bars 23, but constitute in themselves a transposition device between the levers 40 and the pin-bars 23. As shown in Figure 1, the nested portions of 115 some of the bails extend forwardly fromthe rod 44 and the corresponding portions of the other bails extend downwardly, thus permitting the bails' to be nested mucl more com pactly than would be the case if all of these 12 parts extended in the same direction. It will be evident that this portion of the transposition mechanism' is very much simpler and contains a very much'smaller number of parts than the usual mechanism, including a 125 complicated system of transposition linkages from which movement is transmitted to pinbars by means of an intermediate set of bellcranks.

The rod 44 is supported at its ends 'in 130 brackets i? of convenient shape, t brackets being secured by suitable means, such as screws 48 to a usual cross-bar d9 of the computer la. Preferably, the brat L ll" are so shaped that their forward ends l a considerable bearing on the upper sin a of'the cross-bar 49, and a comb-plate 50 o usual form is secured to the forward l the brackets d? by suitable means, such as screws 51. The comb-plate 50 serves to guide the rear ends of the pin-bars 23 and may also be used tosupport the springs by which the pin-bars 23 are normally held in their retracted positions.

In order to limit the movements of the bails 43 and to maintain the rearwardlyeittending arms e2 thereof in alignment v l extending arms of the lev l i the forwardl s 40, provision is made of a cover or angemember 52 having a flange to rest on the rear ends of the brackets 17 and to be secured thereto by any suita means and a flange 54 extending downwardly therefrom at right angles along the rear ends of the brackets 47, the forward edge of the flange ,53 serving as a stop for the upright arms l5, and the downwardly-extending flange being provided with slots to guide the arms 42 of the bails and the forward ends of the levers which underlie said arms '12. It will be evident that by the above ar agement the levers l0 and the arms w. 1 be maintained in proper relation with respect to each other. 7

Obviously it is desirable to bring the pins 22 into proper alignment with the pin-setting bars 21 when the pin-bars 23 are selectively advanced, and, for this reason, it is,

desirable to determine to a considerable degree of accuracy the limits of the forward swinging movements of the bails 43. To this end, provision is made of a plurality of setscrews 56 threaded through openings in the flange53 and having heads 57 which are slotted to permit adjustment by means of a screw-driver and are provided with flat atera-l surfaces so that they may be set by wrenches. The screws 56 may be set to a fair degree of accuracy, and, inasmuch as they are positioned above and in alignment with the. rearwardly-extending arms 4201 the bails, serve to limit the movements of the bails 43, the arms 42 of which will be brought into engagement with the lower ends of the screws 56. The screws 56 are arranged in two parallel rows, and this an rangement is utilized in connection with locking the set-screws after adjustment thereof. Theset-screws are adjusted to as nearly as possible the desired position and left so that flat portions of the heads of the screws of the two rows will face each other. A plate or bar 58 may then be inserted between the screws on the two rows so as to engage'the inwardly-facing fiat sides of the heads 57, thus preventing turning of the screws 56. The bar 58 may be held in position by means of screws 59 having heads 60 overlapping the upper edge of the plate or bar 58, so as to clamp the latter against the flange 53.

After the pin-bars 23 have been selectively advanced one by one and the digits to be indexed in the various denominations have been so indered by depressing the proper index-pins 22, a general operator 61 is actuated in the usual manner to cause a crossbar 62 thereon to engage the lower ends of depressed index-pins 22 and thereby actuate the pin bars 23 in accordance with the number indexed and run such number into the vheels 26 of the register.

Preferably the upper ends of the arms e5 are so shaped that they have upright fingers 63 to engage and advance the pins 46 and shelves 6st curved downwardly at their forward edges to insure the proper positioning of the ping 46 thereover when the pin: bars 23ers returned after actuation by the general operator.

It will be evident that the novel structure substituted for the usual complicated transposition mechanism at the rear of the computer is very simple in form and contains a much smaller number of parts than the usual m chanism, and is readily applicable to machines inuse in that it may be readily attached to the cross-bar 49 of the usual machine or removed therefrom.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a combined typewriting and computing machine having carriage-controlled denomination-selectors and longitudinallymovable pin-bars positioned thereby, a transposition mechanism comprising a series of uniform levers mounted on a common pivot, a set of nested bell-cranks pivoted adjacent to said levers, each bell-crank having a horizontal arm overlying one end of a corresponding horizontal lever and also having an offset, upwardly extending arm positioned to actuate a pin-bar of a corresponding denomination; and a flanged member mounted between the pivots of said levers and bell-cranks, one flange ofsaid member forming a stop for the upwardly extending arms of said bell-crank.

2, In a combined typewriting and computingmachine having carriage-controlled dcnomination-selectors and longitudinallymovable pin-bars positioned thereby, a trans position mechanism comprising a series of horizontal levers mounted on a common 7 pivot, a set of nested bell-cranks pivoted ading an offset, upwardly extending arm positioned to actuate a pin-bar of corresponding denomination; and a flanged member mounted between the pivots of said levers and bellcranks, one flange of said member having adjustable stops for the horizontal arms of said bell-cranks.

3. In a combined typewriting and computing machine having carriage-controlled denomination-selectors and longitudinallymovable pin-bars positioned thereby, a transposition mechanism comprising a series of horizontal levers mounted on a Common pivot, a set ofnested bell-cranks pivoted adjacent to said horizontal levers, each bellcrank having an arm overlying one end of a corresponding lever and also having an offset, upwardly extending arm positioned to actuate a pin-har or a corresponding denomination; and a flanged member mounted between the pivots of said levers and bell-cranks. said member having a depending, slotted flange forming alining guides for said levers and the overlying arms of said bell-cranks.

ADOLPH e. UPETZ, 

